Female Beauty

Organisers of India’s premier fashion week have reportedly refused to let Miss Vida Samadzai, an Afghan beauty queen take part in a show inspired by her life as she did not have a work permit. Vida Samadzai whose bikini walk at the Miss Earth pageant three years ago earned her expulsion from her country, lead model for Bangalore-based designer Deepika Govind, was told to get off the ramp a few minutes before the show at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week last evening, according to fashion industry sources. An official of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) told the designer that the US-based model would not be allowed to walk.

Vida Samadzai, born and raised in the Afghan capital Kabul, emigrated to the US in 1996 and now holds American citizenship. She travelled to India on a business visa that expires in November, had sent a letter to the Fashion Design Council of India seeking permission to take part in Govind’s show. “I don’t know why I was not allowed to walk. No money was exchanged,” Samadzai, Afghanistan’s unofficial representative at the Miss Earth contest in Manila in 2003, was quoted as saying.

Vida Samadzai is no stranger to controversy, being one of the few Afghan women to participate in an international beauty pageant in decades. Her appearance at the Miss Earth pageant in a bikini raised the hackles of many back home in Afghanistan three years ago.
Samadzai, however, made a brief appearance at the end of the show, coming out on the ramp with Govind to acknowledge an ovation from the audience.
Govind, whose collection titled “Tears of the Muses” was inspired by Samadzai’s life, said she had also sought permission for the model to work for her because “she represented the courage and spirit I believe in.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2006 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Beauty, Career, Fashion, Personality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.